Dual Citizenship and Name Changing

[jj_154 0]

Hi,

My wife and I have encountered another problem we don't know the answer to. My wife has dual citizenship: Brazil/Japan. We were married in Japan last year and she changed her name to mine officially in Japan. However, she never registered the marriage at the Brazilian consulate since it was a very low-priority thing for her to do (since she has been out of Brazil for more than 10 years). Even her passport has been expired for a number of years. So, she decided recently she should renew her passport and register the marriage. However, when she does this, she will need a number of extra Brazilian documents that need to be updated with her new name. Some of these she feels may take some time. The important part is our expectation of being required to provide police certificates from Brazil. She says to obtain the police certificates may require her to have matching names on certain of these documents, which may take some time.

One option is to not change anything and just go with all the Japanese documents and wait until we get to the U.S. to update the Brazilian documents. However, in this case, the police certificate will still be in wife's maiden name. Will that be a problem? Will the immigration officials be very strict about married names and maiden names on different documents (for example the police certificate and my wife's expired Brazilian passport)?

The other option is to try to update all the Brazilian documents before the police certificate is required, but my wife doubts that it can be done in time.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,

John

Edited March 9, 2008 by jj_154

[trailmix 77]

I don't know specifics for Brazil, but police certificates normally have to search all names anyway - the person requesting the search should be required to give all names used for the search.

Perhaps you could contact the the immigrant visa unit of the U.S. Consular General in Rio de Janeiro, as mentioned below, and get a definative answer on this.

Police Records - Brazil

Certificates of Good Conduct (Atestados de Bons Antecedentes) related to possible violations of state law are available to persons over the age of 18 from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica in each of Brazil's states (and the Distrito Federal). Atestados related to possible violations of federal law are available to persons over the age of 18 from any station (Delegacia) of the National Police (Policia Federal). Criminal records in Brazil are expunged five years after any sentence has been served.

Because each state maintains a separate database of violations of state law, a prospective immigrant must obtain a separate record from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica of each state in which he or she has resided within the past five years. Additionally, a prospective immigrant must obtain a record from the Policia Federal, since state police records do not include violations of federal law.

For addresses or telephone numbers of Secretarias de Seguranca Publica, an applicant may call the immigrant visa unit of the U.S. Consular General in Rio de Janeiro. If a state's Secretaria refuses to provide an Atestado to an applicant, he or she may request the assistance of the Rio IV unit. Brazil - Reciprocity Table - Department of State

Contact Information & Working Hours - Immigrant Visa Unit - Rio de Janeiro

Edited March 9, 2008 by trailmix

[mc2000ch 0]

I don't know specifics for Brazil, but police certificates normally have to search all names anyway - the person requesting the search should be required to give all names used for the search.

Perhaps you could contact the the immigrant visa unit of the U.S. Consular General in Rio de Janeiro, as mentioned below, and get a definative answer on this.

Police Records - Brazil

Certificates of Good Conduct (Atestados de Bons Antecedentes) related to possible violations of state law are available to persons over the age of 18 from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica in each of Brazil's states (and the Distrito Federal). Atestados related to possible violations of federal law are available to persons over the age of 18 from any station (Delegacia) of the National Police (Policia Federal). Criminal records in Brazil are expunged five years after any sentence has been served.

Because each state maintains a separate database of violations of state law, a prospective immigrant must obtain a separate record from the Secretaria de Seguranca Publica of each state in which he or she has resided within the past five years. Additionally, a prospective immigrant must obtain a record from the Policia Federal, since state police records do not include violations of federal law.

For addresses or telephone numbers of Secretarias de Seguranca Publica, an applicant may call the immigrant visa unit of the U.S. Consular General in Rio de Janeiro. If a state's Secretaria refuses to provide an Atestado to an applicant, he or she may request the assistance of the Rio IV unit. Brazil - Reciprocity Table - Department of State

Contact Information & Working Hours - Immigrant Visa Unit - Rio de Janeiro

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